Friday, April 28, 2006

Life is suddenly crazy busy everyday. I was soooooooo tempted not to go workout today. We were headed home from the church cafe and I just wanted to come home and chill for a little while and then get ready for tomorrow, but I am so proud of myself. I came home, got ready to go workout and went and did it. Not only did I work out, I did a SOLID workout, upped my stepper level and stayed at that level through the whole cycle. And I wasn't sluggish like I thought I would be after such a busy day (and some sugar today, bad bad me!) So here's the stats...

incidentally I am seeing more flexibility when I stretch. One of my questions right now is whether a person who is not flexible can become flexible with persistence. In high school I tried for years to do the splits and never could. I wonder if I just wasn't trying hard enough or if a person can be physically made in a way that they just won't flex in certain ways. I am determined to become more flexible if it is possible... just curious about that one

food:breakfast: toast, milklunch: remen noodles with lots of veggies on top, teasnack: chocolate shake and a donut (this is the BAD part, I was going to splurge for the donut but my friend I was with bought me a shake and handed it to me, I was like AHHHHH but couldn't refuse it, she'd already payed for it, so ugh, I drank it)dinner: salad, a few french friesafter workout snack: banana and milk

I did NOT do well with eating today. NOT at all. And we will be gone all weekend and I probably won't have much control over what is offered. Then next week Rocky's brother's family will be here... LOTS of eating will take place then! OH my, I hope I can control myself.

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

WHEW! I am plum worn out today for some reason. I am so sleepy I am about to fall out of my chair! It wasn't necessarily a really busy day so I don't know why! But here's my report for today...

workout:35 min stepper, 130 stories climbed, 310 calories (either my home stepper is way too generous or the gym stepper is way too stingy with this calorie counter, because at home I get like 500 calories but barely broke a sweat and at the gym I get only 390 and I can hardly walk when I am done, what's up with that?)abs, arms, back and stretching.

I did GREAT with my eating today. Felt pretty hungry right before dinner, I think because my lunch was REALLY low cal. The noodle package said it was 130 calories only. That is low. I wish I knew how many calories was in that rice bowl I had for dinner... let me check the internet... 807! wow, that was steep. So my total calories today probably came to about... 1,200 or so. That is pretty good! I am glad I did so well earlier in the day, that rice bowl was a lot of calories!

So anyways, it was a good day but I better get to bed. Tomorrow will be busy again!

Monday, April 24, 2006

Had a pretty good day of rest. Just did random things, for CyberWize, QTbaby, and MY cutie baby. Who by the way has a fever and diarrhea this evening. Poor thing. She's been kind of low key all day and I suspected something was up. I hope she'll be Ok by morning. Usually when she has fever she wakes up during the middle of the night several times. Poor baby.

OK, so I have AWESOME news! All that thinking I wasn't doing so well on eating right these last few days. Well it didn't seem to matter very much. I figured surely I would be up on the scales a little today, or just the same at the most. I was sooooooooo shoked to see my weight today...

68.5!!!!!!!

Not only did I get to see the 68's again, I am well down into them! I looked at my weight chart on the computer at the gym, just three weeks ago I was 71.4!!! That is almost 3 kilo in 3 weeks! My goal of 65 by June is totally in reach. I am so excited!!!

I learned one lesson today, I went to workout at 4pm. I usually work out in the evenings after dinner, but today going in the afternoon was TOUGH. It had been several hours since lunch, and I could tell I needed more fuel. My normal routine was a struggle to get through. I have to remember from now on to eat something before I go workout. It is obvious that my metabolism is catching up so I can afford to fuel the workout, so I feel good during it and can make the most of each part of my workout. It seems like a waste to go and workout if I will cheat on my activites because I am tired and feeling sluggish. Like today, I can usually do my whole stepper routine without holding onto the rails, but today I had to grab on a few times to make it easier on my legs. I don't want to waste all the hard work, so gotta have enough energy!

I was following a book that suggests not to eat unless you FEEL hunger pains. This working well for me, but you'll notice I also didn't have breadfast today. I wasn't feeling hungry so I didn't eat until lunch. But by lunch time I was almost desperate to sit down and eat. And then my workout was so sluggish, I think I will go ahead and eat a little something for breakfast every morning anyways, that probably significantly impacted my low energy this afternoon. Again, I am obviously doing fine, and I've been eating breakfast almost everyday so no worries. Besides I love my toast with whipped honey in the mornings!

It is just so exciting to be seeing results this time. The last time I got into the gym I did not change my eating habits much and reasoned that just working out would bring off the weight but it didn't. I lost a little at first but then stayed the same forever. I also ended up eating more a lot of the time because I convinced myself that I was working out and that would take care of it. I feel great this time, and it feels awesome to see the pounds coming off and the muscle tone coming on!!!

Sunday, April 23, 2006

Sundays are so crazy sometimes! This morning Rocky preached at Harugaoka Church. We have had a long standing relationship with this church. Right after we were married, this church had no pastor and they had Rocky preaching one Sunday a month every month for a while. Then they had a pastor for a while, and for a time enjoyed some incredible growth. However, at some point some things went bad, and the pastor left a while back. We do not know what happened but the church was left with only a handful of members. The core group that is left is strong, and devoted. They now again have a rotation of others filling the pulpit on Sunday morning while they recover and move on. We really enjoy going to this church, there is a Spirit of determination and faithfulness among the small group of members. They also really receive Rocky's messages with eager hearts and open minds. so they call on Rocky about once a month to fill to pulpit and today we were there.

This morning was so much fun and we always wish we had more time and resources to give to this group. This morning Rocky's message was about eternal life. It starts here and now and it isn't just the rewards of heaven but is the blessing of walking with and getting to know Jesus even from now. John 17:3 "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." Rocky made a great point in his message, the verb "know" has two very different meanings. You can know about something but not really KNOW it.

What hit me this morning is that we get the priviledge of KNOWING Jesus Christ, the Son of God, our Savior. Not only did he die for us, save us, give us eternal life, he shows us grace and mercy, blesses us far beyond what we deserve, and on top of all that, we get to KNOW him. How excited would you be if someone told you that you are going to get to meet and get to know Julia Roberts or George Bush, The Pope or any other famous person you admire. Many of us would be so excited we could hardly stand it. We would probably have trouble sleeping at night, would do our best to look and act our best, we would tell everyone we know.

Do you feel the same way about the fact that you get to meet and get to know your Savior, Jesus Christ. And the verse in John says, "Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent." You want to find heaven on Earth? He lives right inside your heart, walks beside you every day and reveals every part of himself you'd ever want or need to know about in his word. And he's dying to get to know you!

WOW, that turned into a little devo, huh!?

So anyways, we couldn't hang around much after Harugaoka, we had to run get lunch and head to church for Afureru! in the afternoon. That is our bilingual monthly worship meeting. We had an awesome meeting today. You can see some pictures on the website, www.afureru.org then click on the link to the blog. There are about 8 pictures there I think. It was such a great meeting tonight, the whole meeting was testimony sharing time. We love to get the opportunity to hear how God is working in everyone around us.

So after that, we had dinner with some friends, and we got home at 9pm. We left a little after 9am this morning, whew, what a day! Hana was such a trooper, she did great.

Needless to say, I was worn out and did not want to work out. So I didn't. I also did sort of OK with eating today. I do great in the morning and afternoon and then eat what I feel like is a little too much for dinner. It wasn't terrible, just not the best.

breakfast: CyberWize shakelunch: salad, garlic bread, ginger alesnack: 2 little cookies, teadinner: we went to a restaurant called hamakatsu with our friends. It is breaded friend meats with rice soup, and pickled veggies. I shared a plate with my friend, so I had a small portion of each; fried pork/potato koroke/chicken, some pickled veggies, cabbage salad, a little bit of rice with tororo on top, tea

I shouldn't have had all that for dinner. Especially on a day that I couldn't work out. So just like yesterday, I decide again today, tomorrow I WILL do better. I did follow my promise from yesterday, today I cut down on sugar and carbs. Tomorrow, I will do better in the evening!

Well it rained all day so no flea market for QTbaby. Anne and I were sad, but it is probably for the best. We weren't quite ready for it, I think we could prepare a little bit more. The flea market is postponed till next week, but we have a concert out of town next week so... we'll see if Anne and her hubby want to try to pull it off alone?

So we stayed home all day, and it was pretty boring! Hana was really bored, poor thing. But she was in a good mood. She has had a great week and I am so proud of her. Since I wasn't too busy I spent lots of time with her today and she loved that!

I deserve a HUGE pat on the back for my work out. We had guests this evening and after cooking all afternoon and serving everyone, I did NOT want to work out. But I had a pretty large meal eating with everyone, AND desert, so I knew I needed to. I didn't feel like it but I forced myself to do it, and I am glad I did. here's my stats for the day...

Then the bad thing happened, about 11pm Rocky pulled out the cream puffs our guests had brought over and I ATE ONE!!! BAD BAD BAD girl. I won't get to go to the gym tomorrow so we will see if I pay for this on the scales on Monday... I think I'm going to have to buy scales for at home. I think it will keep me more motivated.

So we had a pretty good day, and I WILL do better at eating tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I WILL not eat toast for breakfast but instead will have a protein shake. And I will NOT eat too many carbs or sweets tomorrow. That is final.

I was telling someone this week that when I was a teenager some great advice someone gave me once to avoid temptation while dating was, decide BEFORE you leave the house for a date what you will and will not do. Be specific with yourself and with God, pray over it and make a firm decision. This helped me tremendously when I was a teenager and later in my early twenties when I was dating. NOW that I am dieting, I am applying the same advice. Like I just decided what I will do tomorrow. You see I know tomorrow is going to be busy and we will be out all day so we will be eating at restaurants. So I know I am going to be tempted to eat poorly tomorrow. I have already decided I will not let myself do that! On Thursday morning I have accountability time with my friend Rae, and we have breakfast together at a restaurant called Royal Host. RH has the BEST pancakes and maple syrup (maple syrup is expensive so we don't have it here at home, so therfor I never make pancakes). I am always soooooooooo tempted to get the pancakes at RH. But I decide on Wednesday night, and again while I am getting ready on Thursday mornings that I am instead going to have the veggie soup and English muffin, or the spinach/egg bake and English muffin, or something low cal like that. It is working! I also decide I will NOT drink coke. The breakfast comes with the drink bar (at restaurants in Japan refills are not free unless they have a drink bar where the drink machines are out so the customers can use it). I am always tempted to drink coke on Thursday mornings too. But I decide ahead of time I will not. This is really helping me a lot with temptation. Who knew that teenage advice for dating would apply to dieting too!

won't get to workout tomorrow so I did a full workout tonight, I'm pleasantly exhausted! Had a great Sauna too, because I had plenty of time.

weight 69.1 back up a little. I want to see the 8 there again!

food:breakfast: toast, milklunch: small bowl of ramen shared with Hanadinner: salad, breadevening snack: small bowl of plain cheerios (again I was STARVING after workout)

I really wish my weight reflected more of the actual changes taking place. My shape is really changing. It feels sooooooooooo great. I will never EVER go back to being out of shape again. I don't know why I couldn't feel so good about it before, but this is awesome.

Thought you might like to see a picture of my lunch! I shared most of it with Hana (she ate about half the noodles) and I left quite a bit of the soup in the bowl because it was full of grease. BUT it was sooooooooo yummy! I LOVE Kyushu Ramen, it is the best in the world. You haven't lived till you've had Kyushu Ramen! It is food like this that is why I am in the shape I am in right now. The food is just too good here

On the left is cuts of pork, right is boiled egg and mushrooms, and the lower middle is sprouts, with green onion sprinkled on top. yum!

Well I didn't get to work out today because it was really busy. Hana and I didn't get home until 9pm and Daddy didn't get home until even later than that, so no time to go to the gym. What was I doing??? I was getting ready for the launch of QTbaby!!! That is what I was doing! We have decided to try going to a flea market on Saturday to begin selling and start forming a customer base for the business. Plus a friend of Anne's came over tonight and she bought over $100 worth of the clothing! Our first big sale! We are technically already in business.

So tonight I made t-shirts for us to wear at the flea market. It may be cold on that day and is forcast to possibly rain, so I am praying we actually get to do this thing! But I got the t-shirts done, and here is a picture for you to see...

Here is a more close up shot so you can see a little better...

and then here is Rocky's t-shirt! He is so excited about his being "different". See how long it takes you to figure out what is so different about his...

He just loves to be different. We sort of had our printer and software sending eachother mixed signals, and didn't get things printed out right at first. So Rocky gets the "special" shirt!

I'll let you know how Saturday turns out, if we don't get rained out! We are so excited! By the way, the website it not up and going yet, that is coming soon.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

well, two things from yesterday really made a difference today. I was suprised that I could so clearly tell. Yesterday I had some coke, and I forgot to take my tunguska blast. Today, I was so sluggish, especially on the stepper. What was a simple workout on Monday was tough to get through today. NO MORE SUGAR, and don't forget the T BLAST! But I got through a pretty hard workout anyways.

My most awesome news today, I bought a pair of capri streatch pants at a store I went to today and I got the largest size becuase in Japan I absolutely ahve to have the largest size, but when I got home and tried them on, they were almost too big! I'm keeping them anyways, but I can't believe they are almost too big! I may be able to purchase a few pieces of clothing here in Japan if this keeps up.

Tuesday is the one day of the week the gym is closed so I worked out at home tonight. I sort of enjoy working out in front of my own tv so I can watch some English programs. At the gym I read a book while I am on the stepper, because all the tv's there are too far in the distance to really be heard. So tonight I watched the Disney Channel, some 30 minute sitcom kinda shows while working out!

workout:stepper - 45 minutes, 3880 steps, 542 calories (I just felt like going and going and so I did!)abs, stretching

food:breakfast: toast, milklunch: rice, miso soup, 1 crouchet, and various pickled veggiessnack: small pudding cup my friend brought over when she came to visit this afternoondinner: rolls, veggie soup

My friend also brought a coke today, ughhhhhhhh. Luckily Rocky helped me drink it and so it is all gone, but I could have done without those calories today. I am sure it won't hurt me that much but the longer I go without coke the easier it is not to drink it. Once I drink some, I want more! This is my big struggle. I read lots of different ideas about cokes, some say don't cut it out of your diet, if you do you will crave more sugar and struggle in other areas of your diet. Some say cut it out all together and only drink water. I don't know about the craving sugar in other areas, but I just don't think I want to keep putting that stuff into my body, and I would prefer to only drink water and teas, some orange juice sometimes and of course milk. It would definitely be easier if all temptation were removed from before me and only healthy things were there to be chosen! Such is life, I know!

So since I was home tonight, I couldn't weigh myself. I am sooooooooo tempted to buy scales. I am so hoping I will be 68.something tomorrow! I believe if I eat like a good girl tomorrow, I definitely will be! We shall see!!!

Weight: ARE YOU READY for THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!69.0 whaaahoooo!!! Can you hear me screaming! I lost a whole kilo in a week!!!!!!!!

It is just amazing to me because of all the muscle I am gaining, I guess the fat burning is finally catching up and outweighing the muscle gain. I am sooooo happy!

So my goal is to be 68 by the end of this month. I think I can definitely do that!

that means if I can lose two more kilo in May, and one kilo in the first part of June, I will be at my goal weight for our return to the states! I can do this. I feel great, I don't feel hungry at all, it is fun and so encouraging to be seeing change. I'm loving it!!!

Sunday, April 16, 2006

Nothing to report today, because I took a break! It was Easter Sunday today, a very long day at church and I just wanted to take it easy this evening. I may see on the scales tomorrow the results of today, but we shall see...

Food: I did pretty good considering it was potluck Easter dinner at church today and there were snacks out ALL day!

breakfast: cyberwize protein shakelunch: various things but I had very small servingssnacks: various things throughout the afternoon dinner: salad, a couple french fries, waterevening snack: a donut

not the best eating day but that's ok, back on track tomorrow!

Today was an awesome day at church, check out the Ayatsuka blog to hear about it!

The gym closes at 9 on Saturdays and I just didn't get up there in time so I worked out here at home. I did my little dinky, and might I add NOISY, stepper here at home. I did 32 minutes, it showed I burned 366 calories and stepped 2623 times. Then I did ab crunches, side bends with some weight in my hands, and ended with some stretching. It felt great. It is so amazing to be able to look down at my own legs and not really recognize them. The muscle tone is so cool! My arms are the same way too. And I wore my "skinny" jeans again today, the ones I haven't been able to wear for more than a year. I can't believe how comfortable they feel! I love it!

Food:breakfast: nothing, I was too busy dealing with a temper tantrum lunch: chicken salad, teasnack: a cadbury egg (a souvenier from my friend Anne)dinner: pigs in a blanket, and veggie soup, water

no scales at home so I don't know my weight today. All I know is I'm feeling awesome. Even my toe seems to be healing nicely and I managed to go all day today without bumping it, or it being stepped on!

Saturday, April 15, 2006

My friend Anne and I are starting an American Baby clothes online business in Japan. Since our babies were born the Japanese have raved about their outfits. Japanese baby clothing is so drab. There are some sort of cute outfits but those cost about $50. If they are affordable, they are very boring and drab. American has so many cute, cheap outfits. So we have stocked up on good deals at ebay, and Anne was recently home and shopped for all the clearance sales all over. And now we have a good stock of baby clothes to start our business with. we are hoping to have a website, business cards, etc. up and going in a month or less! (We can do it, we can do it, we can do it!)

So here is our logo...

I designed it on Illustrator! I designed about 5 others but this seems to be everyone's favorite!

Here we go!

So if you happen to be reading this blog and you know where we can get lots of baby clothes, new with tags, REALLY cheap so we can ship them over here to Japan, please let us know!

I can not tell you how GREAT it feels to work out. I mean, I feel AWESOME! It is totally because of the tunguska blast too, I KNOW it is. I take this stuff EVERY day and if I miss it, I can tell. I also take it right before I get on the stepper everyday, and I feel GREAT when I finish working out.

I have tried many times before in the past to get back into shape. Every time my biggest obstacle was how much it hurt, and it seemed the pain never went away. I dreaded EVERY single workout, and found every excuse NOT to go. But this time around I can not wait to get to the gym everyday. I just LOVE it. You can not imagine what a miracle this is.

I wore a pair of jeans today that I haven't been able to get into in more than a year. They say size 9 on the tag, but they are a small 9. They are Cruel girl jeans, and they are more classic fit. They were not tight or uncomfortable AT ALL. And I think even when I bought these jeans they were a little bit tight! I KNOW without a doubt that the fact my numerical weight is not going down is because of muscle gain, because my size is totally changing. I have now been going to the gym for 4 weeks. I can see my ribs on my chest and on the sides for the first time in I don't know how long. Don't get me wrong, there is still some "padding" there, but it is definitely going away. And my stomach is so flat! Last summer when I was in the states I developed a definite second roll between my stomach and my boobs and that sucker is LONG gone! Thank God!

I just feel so great, I feel more energy after a work out, I sleep like a rock and pop out of bed in the morning feeling fresh and energized. I feel like keeping going all day everyday instead of lazing around. I am so glad!!! My whole motivation for getting back in shape was our trip back to the states in June. I can't wait to see how I look after 2 more months of this.

Today's stuff

Workout:35 minutes on stepper, 306 calories, 126 stories climbedabs, arms, back (yesterday was legs, I don't think I found the time to blog yesterday)stretching before and after

weight - 69.9 (down .2 from yesterday)

Food:

breakfast: toast, milk

lunch: rice salad bowl (shared with Hana, so I only got about 2/3 or it), water

snack: half a donut (shared with Hana), tea unsweetened; we splurged and had donuts for a snack, special treat because we were spending the day together as a family

dinner: KFC one chicken leg, cole slaw, about 15 spicy french fries, water

didn't do too bad on food today, but wish I had gone without the treats. The afternoon donuts were not too bad, but I knew that going to cafe would be a big temptation. I was glad Anne wanted to share the piece of pie. but I still probably should have gone without anything this evening. I will be strict tomorrow about what I eat!

I am off to bed! So relaxed and sleepy right now. Wow it feels good to be getting back into shape!

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

It felt so good to work out today since I missed yesterday. But I broke my toe on the way up the stairs from the dressing room. It's been injured for a while, and it is bent weird now. I guess since it stays bent it gets caught on steps and changes in the floor level. I stump it about 10 times a day and Hana and Rocky step on it as many times or more. but this evening I REALLY stumped it jogging up the steps at the gym. I wish I could just cut it off! It is purple and blue and red and about three times it's normal size tonight! OUCH!

but I worked out anyways. My routine on the stepper is getting easier and easier every time. I set it to pattern number 8 and go 30 minutes. 30 minutes is the most I can do and pattern #8 looks to me to be the hardest one aside from just controlling the levels myself. I may start doing that to increase the cardio workout even more soon. But right now it must be working well because....

I FINALLY HIT THE 60's!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Weight was 69.9 tonight! woooohooo, I was so excited. I can't wait now to hit 68! My new goal, to be 68 by the end of this month!

Work out stats...stepper: 30 minutes, #8 302 calories, 123 stories climbed! (I upped the level of the cool down so this got my calories burned into the 300's!)arms, abs and back

TOMORROW: do legs!

FOOD:

breakfast - toast with honey, glass of milk

lunch - leftover burritos, salad, coke (we have a liter in the house and I wanted to get rid of it so I drank it, NO MORE COKES)

snack - two banana oatmeal cookies, glass of milk

dinner - rice cooked with mushrooms (very small bowl), two small wieners, boiled spinach with sesame seasoning, various pickled veggies, water

NO SNACK TONIGHT, because I'm not hungry

Weight: 69.9 (have I told you I am excited to be in the 60's)

I know for a fact however that my slow weight loss is due to muscle gain. My leg and arm muscles are becoming very defined. But my stomach is so flat, and my saddle bags are disappearing quickly so I know I am losing a good amount of fat. Can't wait for my body fat to come down so I can SEE all these muscles I'm making!

Stretching is another thing I am so excited about. When I started working out a month ago, I could not even touch my toes! Now I can grab the bottom of my foot and hold the stretch for a good while. I can sit Indian style with my feet together and push my knees almost all the way down to the floor. AND my shoulder that has been in knots for 19 months (why do I know the exact number of months, because it started when Hana got here) is FINALLY pain free and knot free! It feels SO good to be able to turn my head and to not have that chronic ache all the time! Wahoooooo!!! I also do not wake up with my lower back hurting anymore. And my knees and ankles do not bother me the least little bit when climbing stairs or sitting on the floor! It feels so good, I feel as young as I am again and all within the first month! It will only get better from here!!!

Tomorrow, the recording with Ai is finally over and she goes home, so I can take my time at the gym and also use the spa again! Can't wait to use the sauna and cold pool again. I love to get int he sauna and get all steamed up and then go lower myself down in the COLD pool. The water temp is about 50 degrees F, 18 C and I know that sounds cold, but when you get used to it, it feels sooooooooooooo good! Especially after getting REALLY hot in a 90 C temp sauna! It is so good for the circulation too, to go from hot to cold like that. I usually cycle it three times, 10 minutes in the sauna, then as long as I can stand in the cold pool, 3 times! I haven't been doing that though because I need to get back home since we have a guest in the house! I can't wait to do it again tomorrow!

OK, enough of that, I'm off to take my bath and then do some Bible study!

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

But I have had plenty of activity, so I don't consider it cheating. Oh what a day, or what a week I should say. With a client in the studio our whole life is disrupted. I am thankful for the opportunity to serve this young artist, but the worst of it is hitting Hana. Everything for her is different and she is not handling it well today for some reason.

Her room is connected to another large room where our guest is staying. The only thing between the two rooms is paper doors, and above the paper doors is a beautiful old style Japanese wood carving of trees and cranes, so that space is completely open except for the carvings. Plus the studio is upstairs next to Rocky and I's bedroom (only a few feet away from Hana's room also, and even though there is a wall and doors, this is an old Japanese house so the sound carries right through. Poor thing, can't nap properly, can't sleep at night properly and her schedule of eating is all off. Because Rocky is here in the house with a young woman we can't go anywhere, so she's all cooped up, besides it has been raining constantly anyways. Plus she is cutting some teeth. And she misses Daddy terribly. She's knows he is just upstairs and can't understand why she can't go up there and be with him. Talk about everything stacked against her, she has been a fussy mess all day, and most of yesterday. We are up to 5 days with a guest and the craziness, and I think she's had about all she can take. Plus she woke up at 6am this morning. She sleeps most morning until 8 or later.

So Mommy is a frazzled mess. I'm trying to take care of her, cook as much as possible for all the meals for our guest, stay as quiet as possible, keep up with all my CyberWize work, get ready for the internet business my friend and I are starting, work on the walls in our entryway AND I can't go anywhere for more than a few minutes. With this fussy baby, I am about to go nuts too!!! My workouts in the evening have been my escape but I don't get that today because the gym is closed! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Ok, I feel better.

So during Hana's nap this afternoon (which she actually slept through some of the singing upstairs) I was able to finish up taping and mudding the joints in the walls in our entryway. Now my problem is, I want to texture the walls before painting them, but I don't know if as a civilian you can get any equipment for doing that in Japan. Actually I am almost certain you can not! Most Japanese have never heard of doing their own painting or wallpapering, and they are shocked and awed when they find out that I am doing ours. You can hardly get any paint at the hardware store, there are maybe 10 colors to choose from. And those machines in the states at every hardware store that mix any paint to the color you want, NOT available here. Luckily we have a friend at church who paints for a living so he can get us some good colors. But I want to texture the walls before I paint, and I have no idea how I am going to do that. I am thinking it through. I thought of doing it myself with plaster, and doing a circular texture or something. But our entryway is so small it would be overwhelming for such a tiny space. I need something very simple, but to paint the walls just as they are now would not look too great, you would be able to see most of the flaws (which there are many because the Japanese construction workers assume you are going to wallpaper which will cover up a lot, so they are not very neat with their construction. And they use HUGE screws to secure the dry wall??? ugh. If anyone happens to be boring themselves by reading my journal and reading it this far, and has any ideas, please post a comment! By the way, you deserve a treat for reading this if you are!

So anyways, Mommy is one tired cookie tonight. I made my sourdough bread this morning though, it was OK. I think the starter is not the best. I'll have to try something different sometime. But for now, I have this starter so I'll stick with it for a while. It isn't too bad. So for lunch we had veggie soup and sourdough bread. yummy! Then for dinner I made Mexican food for Ai-chan, our guest. She loved it but it was a LOT of work, especially after making bread this morning, working on the walls this afternoon and having gotten up at 6am this morning with my little munchkin (I didn't go to bed till 1am last night). whoooooo, I'm ready for bed!

But first, I shall escape to my bath! ohhhhhhh, that is the one wonderful thing about this house. The spacious, roomy, deep bath! I LOVE it, it alone was worth every yen we paid for this house. The tiny bath we had in our apartment was not too good for this long legged cowgirl. Calgon, take me away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm in the middle of trying to make my first sourdough bread. I LOVE it, but can't get it here in Japan and decided to make some myself. But I have no idea what I am doing, so I am just following the recipe as best I can and we'll see how it turns out. I let the starter get "ripe" for 6 days, and tomorrow I make the bread for lunch. I hope it is yummy!

So I have found it so interesting that you can leave it out to ferment, but it doesn't go "bad". Basically because it is a living thing. The yeast is alive. In Japan there are lots of fermented foods, a paste we put in our soup that is basically fermented soy bean paste (I think), many different kinds of pickled vegetables to eat with rice, fermented beans called nato (that I don't like by the way) and of course all the sauces in Japanese foods that are "aged". We don't have many fermented foods in the West so it was all very new to me to discover this whole new world of foods that are so good, and so good for you. I learned early on not to ask the origin of many foods, just to taste and enjoy them first. Then it was not so shocking to find out I was eating something "aged".

Rocky tries to describe my bread that I am making to Japanese people, there is no word for it in Japanese so he tells them I am making rotten bread. It is so not true, the starter is far from rotten, it is aged and it will be delicious. It takes time to make good things I am finding out.

One of the things I have always been very poor at is waiting. I want to do things NOW, and I want things to happen, YESTERDAY. You should have seen me when I was waiting for our adoption to happen, I am very BAD at waiting. Sometimes I make poor Rocky miserable. He's so patient with me and he's taught me so much about waiting.

Waiting is an inevitable part of life, especially if you want God's will and His plan. He doesn't always work on our timeline, I know that for sure. I am learning to be patient more and more all the time for things to happen, in God's perfect timing. He has given me true life, and he is aging me into something that I hope will be good! Because it is becoming more precious to me to watch God work, than it is for me to see happen what I wanted to happen, I like to think I am more patient than ever before. Life experiences have taught me that good things really do come to those who wait on God to move (italics by me).

I have also learned that a relationship with God and knowing him takes time. In our fast/instant everything world, seeking a relationship with God is the total opposite of what we are used to. He is soooooooooooooooooooooo huge and vast that we could spend our whole life getting to know Him and only scratch the surface.

So I am learning that where there is life, taking time to do something doesn't mean it will go rotten, quite the contrary. It will be yummy and unique and a wonderful treat to enjoy (oops sorry, I started thinking about the bread again!)

Had another great day! I'm feeling so good and working out makes me so much more productive throughout the rest of the day. I don't sit around when I have nothing to do now. I feel like getting up and doing something. I haven't had this kind of energy in a long time!

So today I taped and mudded the walls in our entry way. They have been bare drywall since we moved in last June and I have been wanting to do it all along but never found the time. So I sent Hana to Baba's house for the morning and early afternoon, and I got to work. I didn't get as much done as I wanted to, but that was a workout in itself. The ceiling is especially hard, thankgoodness entryways are small in Japan!!!

We don't have scales here at home so I couldn't weigh in today... still debating whether or not I want scales at home or not...

I was a good girl today, could have eaten a little less at each meal, but did not over eat and didn't snack bad. Didn't feel too hungry between meals, but didn't feel hungry at all at dinner time. If we'd been at home, I wouldn't have eaten until I felt hungry but we were at Rocky's parents and I get nagged if I don't eat over there. so I ate...

I should do REALLY well tomorrow! I will be very busy all day!love, me!

Saturday, April 08, 2006

OK, so if anyone is checking this blog, you can ignore these entries. They are just for my personal accountability and record keeping. Probably really boring stuff for the rest of you...

Joined the gym on the 17th of last month and since then have only missed two days of working out except for the day the gym is closed (Tues.) on those days I work out on our dinky little cheap stepper at home and do my ab work

weight has stayed the same!? but I am significantly slimming down. The weight thing has got to be the muscle I am gaining! Wish muscle weren't so heavy, because if my weight would go down I think I'd feel a little more like I was accomplishing something. But just the fact that my clothes fit so differently, I see curves in my arms and legs, and my love handles are practically gone (sugarpie is sad about this but that is too bad because I am very happy about it ) . It feels GREAT!

I watched a guy weigh in today, he weighed 55 kilo! I can not imagine a grown adult weighs so little, I realize he was about half my height and build, but still, what would it be like to be so... small.

Eating journal...breakfast - toast, milklunch - sara udon, watersnack time - strawberries with Hana (a small piece of cake too) then I made the mistake of baking cookies and tasting the batter and a cookie, ughhh)dinner - one slice of pizza, a carrot

Friday, April 07, 2006

OH MY! I just heard about this. This is bad, very bad. You see living overseas makes little delights like Dr. Pepper, PRECIOUS JEWELS! When I was first in Japan 9 years ago, Dr. Pepper was only available in Tokyo. Then about 6 years ago they put in a Costco about an hour drive from here, and you could get it by the case there! This is what is responsible for the 10 or 15 extra pounds I'm carrying around these days I believe! I just can NOT control myself when it comes to Dr. Pepper. So we stopped buying it. It takes ALL my willpower to go to that store, and leave without getting any but it has been a couple of months since I had a Dr. Pepper.

The only problem is, we are going back to the states in June, and I found out today about this Berries & Cream Dr. Pepper. OH MY! OH MY! When Dr. Pepper is readily available, I can not resist drinking one. I am working so hard at getting in shape and losing weight right now and I am afraid that this trip back to the states will undo it all. WHY did Dr. Pepper have to come up with another yummy flavor? ugh

There is just something about that supply and demand. I studied it in college in economics, I will never forget the chart and how we had to learn the correlation between them. But I have thoroughly experienced it since moving to Japan. When something is rare or unavailable, when you CAN get your hands on it, it's like a hungry pack of wolves. GIVE ME ALL I CAN TAKE! It is the same with my favorite foods as well. Especially Mexican food. Why is it we want something so badly when we can not have it.

My reaction to actually having something that is hard to get here is odd though. I do one of three things...

Hord it until it expires and I can't eat it anyway! I always want to save something for a very special time, and then I save it and save it and save it until it goes bad or doesn't really taste good (this always happens with my pecans in the freezer, or that cereal that I can't get in Japan)

I devour it the first day I get my hands on it. This would characterize chocolate and my cousin Debbie's snack mix.

I consume just a little at a time over a long period of time and I am jealous over it like a wild animal. I have been known to get really angry at Rocky for drinking the last Dr. Pepper! Poor guy!

So I begin now praying for CONTROL! I know I can have a Dr. Pepper while I am in the states, and there is no need to drink 15 a day as if I may not live to see tomorrow. But will my taste buds believe me when I try to convince them of that!? I'm off to stare at the homepage and drool, dreaming of my next taste of Dr. Pepper... http://www.drpepper.com/

Thursday, April 06, 2006

This company just keeps on growing on me! I got in only to help out Mom. My interest was peaked when we were in the states last year, and NOW I am a believer. Because of what happened today...

The products at CyberWize are amazing. I would have never known about this stuff if I hadn't been a part of this company. Tunguska Blast is so wonderful. I could go on and on about the benefits we see from it, and that our family and clients are seeing. But today it is another product that totally amazed me...PSP+, is a Glyconutrient and it is supposed to help the body heal itself. Well a little over a month ago, Rocky had an eye check up and it was found that his eye pressure was pretty high. borderline I think they called it at 21. This was concerning because Rocky's brother lost his eye site to glaucoma, where the eye can't regulate it's internal pressure properly. Rocky had also been having headaches around his functioning eye pretty often. He started taking PSP not long after that, and yesterday at his appointment his eye pressure was down to 16, well within normal range. AND he realize he has not been having headaches. You can not imagine how relieved I was.

I LOVE this company. It is helping us provide financially for our future and helping us get healthy, plus we get to help others to do the same. But it very well could be preserving my husband sight, and that is priceless!

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

I used to love to keep a journal, but it has been YEARS since I journaled in any way. The introduction of computers into my life, drastically diminished how much I pick up a pin and paper, plus marriage meant I spent much less time doing things for myself. I thought it was time I start keeping my thoughts in some location, for future reference. Who knows who will read them or when, but it is therapeutic for me at least!

I have several new things going on in my life. First of all, I'm losing weight! I joined a gym 2 weeks ago, although I've been careful about what I eat since about January. I've lots about 3 kilo! It feels good, and I plan to keep it up. I go a book called Weigh Down Diet and have really enjoyed it. It isn't really a diet in that you follow rules about what you eat, it is written by a Christian woman who advocates that God created our bodies to know when and how much we should eat, and we have just ignored it for too long. She is so right! I used to eat whatever I wanted, when I wanted, and never gained a pound. But I realize now, after looking at my eating habits, that I gain weight now because I eat when I am not hungry. Before, I ate when and what I wanted, but I only ate when I was hungry. Now I eat when it is a scheduled time, because of family and work obligations. And I eat everything that is put in front of me, I do not stop when I am full. My husband is VERY against leaving anything on your plate, so when I married him I felt like I always had to clean my plate. And that created a bad habit of overeating. I would serve myself the same size serving as I served him and then eat it all, literally making myself miserable every time I ate. Even though my husband still doesn't approve, I am going to back to leaving food on my plate when I am feel comfortably full. It is working already!

My other two new "things" are my home based business ventures! Since our daughter Hana came, I go less with Rocky for ministry and wanted something to do with my time at home. My Mom introduced me to a network marketing company and I am loving it. My other business venture is with a friend here in Japan. She and I, (she is also an American) have been overwhelmed by how much the Japanese people love our children's clothing! We get a lot of clothes from America and they are so cheap and SO much cuter than affordable Japanese clothing! So we decided it would be a great business venture to sell cute American baby clothes over the internet. We are calling it qtbaby and it will hopefully get off the ground in a few months. More about my two businesses later!